Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Contrary to famous success stories, writing comes one step at a time.

The writers most of us know are exceptions. I advise everyone else to take things one step at a time.

Write a story (fiction) or an essay (non-fiction). Start to finish. Done. Good. We got that out of the way. The piece may not be great, but it is finished. We have proved that we can actually do it—actually write.

Write something that is “published” somewhere. This is a bit more fuzzy than it used to be. Find someplace other than a personal blog to have my writing appear. No money involved, but that is another step.

Now, write something for money. The paycheck could be a free magazine subscription or $5. It is, however, a paycheck and now we are professional writers.

Agents? Maybe, maybe not. Million-dollar paycheck? Not likely, ever. That doesn’t matter. We are now writers. We finish what we start. Other people read what we write. We bring in a little money. That JK Rowling stuff, well, luck and random events have a lot to do with that.